UntitledNarnia: The Missing Princess

The Missing Princess By Mark Jenks

THE MISSING PRINCESS
A Chronicle of New Narnia
By Mark Jenks Chapter 1
Little Girl Lost This is the story of the lost little girl, who might
have been a princess. The tale of Abbie Hodgekiss began long before she
was born; but that's a story that has been told elsewhere. Suffice it
to be said that her mother had once been a queen: and even though there
was no one alive today that could ever remember it, she was indeed the
last remaining queen of a long lost land. By all that is right and
holy, the nine year old Abbie should have been raised as a beloved
princess, full of wonder and the innocent magic that is the right of
all youth: instead her short blonde hair had been cut conservatively
but perfectly and she was reared as the daughter of straight thinking
academic parents. This is not to say that her parents didn't love her
and want for her what they considered the very best, for they most
certainly did. Unfortunately they had the misguided notion that it was
more important for her to be brought up to be as straight thinking as
they were themselves. The notion that children should be carried away
in the joys of fancy and whimsy would have seemed, to them, to be the
highest form of foolishness.
Consequently, Abbie had been taken to the finest schools, and her time
had been filled with a great many structured activities, which were
designed to mold her into the kind of adult that her parents felt that
she should some day become. Even so, between school, music lessons and
sporting events, she often felt that she was missing out on something
very important. She lived in a large country house which had many rooms
and forgotten places, along with her mother and father, and her little
brother Andrew. Her mother had inherited the place from a Professor,
who had long ago been a family friend, along with a moderate sized
fortune when her family had all been killed in a train wreck. For some
reason, there were many places in that house that her mother shied away
from and those rooms had become storage places for old and useless
junk. These were the rooms that Abbie and Andrew often frequented when
they wanted to get away from things.
Now I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, the children did not
frequent these areas in search of adventure, for they were raised to be
proper children of a serious mind. It was just that sometimes, they
needed a place to get away from their studies. Sometimes Abbie just
needed a place to be alone and to feel sorry for herself.
On those days, she would sometimes search through the many old boxes,
which were stored those places, in search of things useful or
beautiful: for her mother had taught her that it was important to be
beautiful. Unfortunately, Abbie took after her father Henry, and she
suspected that she would never grow up to become the model that her
mother hoped that she would become. Abbie realized that her head was
just a little too large to be perfect, (not that anyone but her mother
would have noticed) and her hair was of a strawberry blonde, not the
deep golden variety of her mom's. Her teeth were indeed straight, but
not completely perfect, and one ear was a centimeter lower than the
other.
Abbie was definitely above average in all areas including her looks,
but that was never enough for her mother. Therefore, as on that
particular Saturday, she often retreated to the storerooms to feel
better about herself.
She decided to go through some of the dusty old boxes to see what might
be hidden there. She'd had many times before gone through many of these
old crates, but on this day, she found something at the bottom of one
that she had never before opened, for being at the bottom, it was hard
to remove, and previously she had simply been too little to do so.
Written on the top of the box was a label that simply said "Eustice."
She wasn't sure what a Eustice was, but she suspected that it was some
kind of old time name. Opening the lid she found clothes, toys and
magazines that belonged to a boy, not much older than she. Feeling that
this crate had
nothing useful she started to close it up, until a golden ring fell
from one of the coat's pockets.
She stared at the ring for a minute. It was beautiful, and almost as
importantly, it looked like it might be her size. It was the kind of
thing, she thought, that could only help to make her more beautiful.
Feeling around in the pockets, she saw that the ring was one of four
rings, which were identical, except for the stones, which were in the
settings, and of those there were two varieties.
She decided that it would be good to bring Andrew back here later, and
to split up the rings between them, but she couldn't resist the desire
to try one on. Pocketing one of the other ones, she slipped one of the
green ones on her finger. As soon as she had placed to ring on her
finger, she felt herself to be falling though that was not really what
was happening, it is as close enough analogy as I can describe. Her
training told her that she must be falling, but her senses told her
otherwise. She was moving. She was moving sideways, she was moving
backwards: she was spinning and she was standing still: she was moving
while she was standing still. It wasn't unpleasant and it didn't last
terribly long. When it stopped she found that she was in a pleasant
wood. Now this is the same wood that had been written of before in
someone else's story, so I won't bother to spend too much time
describing the sense of peace that existed there. Suffice it to say
that a great sleepiness came upon her and she laid down for a short
nap. She knew not how long she lay there; indeed, when she awoke, she
hardly remembered who she was or where she had hailed from. She was
roused from her slumbers by a beautiful guinea pig, which was nuzzling
her face. The white and gold guinea pig was slightly larger than your
typical rabbit and it wore a ring that was a match for hers, hanging
from a ribbon around its neck. She somehow wasn't surprised when the
cavy spoke to her. (Her parents would have been scandalized by her even
expressing that such a thought was possible; but there it was.) The
guinea pig said. "I have been waiting a long to for you little
princess. Have you been lost?"
Blinking her eyes, Abbie gaped at the small creature, and stammered out
a reply. "You… you aren't supposed to be able to talk…"
She could almost swear that it smiled, just a hint of a smile before it
continued. "Well, there once was a time when I was not able to talk,
but Aslan long ago breathed on me and told me to wait for the day that
a daughter of Adam should arrive, and here you are."
"I… I don't know any Aslan…"
"I know little princess, but you will." Chapter 2
The Honey Tree
Fargul Treestumps was not a typical puffball: he was perhaps a little
more violet than most, and he was definitely the most graceful floater
of his lot. It's all well and good to be a floater, but he refused to
take root and that angered the other puffballs greatly. After all, they
said, what good is a puffball that refuses to release its seeds.
For his part, Fargul liked to be blown on the wind. After he was
released from his parent stem, the feeling of flight seemed much more
fun than being rooted to the ground. He also knew that once he released
his seeds, his life would come to an end, and he wasn't ready yet to
die. He knew that he had a mission to perform before that time came,
and he wasn't ready yet for that to happen.
On his world, the wind was all important, and shortly after Fargul had
been released from his stem, the great wind whispered to him, telling
him that he would some day be called upon to perform some great work:
but that day was not today. He floated past a glade of mocking puff
plants, only recently rooted, and down into the valley of the ancient
prairies where he blew by his friends, the long-grasses. He liked the
long-grasses, because like himself, they liked to be blown back and
forth by the mighty wind.
On this particular day, he was hailed by the voice of his friend, Ethan
Long-grass, who asked Fargul to carry a few of his seeds into the far
valley for him. Being one of Ethan's oldest friends, Fargul agreed and
picked up a few of the seeds and added them to his own cache.
He had never blown as far as the far valley before and Fargul looked
forward to the new adventure. He had to find an updraft and rise high
into the sky so that he could clear the dark forest. From on high he
looked down on the green canopy and saw occasionally through the
opening to the shade below that. He had never liked the forest too
much. It disturbed him that the trees weren't able to blow as freely in
the great wind as others were able to, and the idea that they blocked
the nourishing sunlight from the weak creatures that might live beneath
those trees, seemed almost villainous to him. He let out a sigh of
relief as he cleared the woods and gasped in delight as he saw, for the
first time, the beauty of the far valley.
The air of the valley was alive with the spores and blowing seeds of
many species that he had ever known existed and the valley floor below
alive with more colors than any puffball had ever before seen who had
remained in the prairie. Off in the distance stood a golden tree of
inconceivable beauty. It was no wonder that Ethan wanted his seeds to
grow up in such an environment: who wouldn't want such beauty for their
offspring. Fargul himself longed to drop down and take root, but he
knew that it was not yet his time. He had not yet completed his life's
mission.
He caught the proper breeze and anxiously drifted towards the wondrous
sight. The golden tree seemed to call to him. He had never seen a
creation of such beauty before and he simply had to see it up close.
Although puffballs came in a wide variety of hues, he had never seen
anything as golden as that tree.
Below him he could hear the thorn and thistle bushes yelling up to him,
but he was too high to be able to tell what they were saying. Having
never really trusted such ugly brutes before, he turned up his nose and
floated past them as quickly as was possible for him to do.
As he approached the tree, he approvingly noted the sweet smell that
rose from the majestic boughs. It was nothing like the nectar of the
brilliant flowers, or even the pollens of his sister puffballs; but it
was definitely pleasant.
He should have paid a little more attention, but as was his want, he
was always distracted in the presence of beauty. A surprising gust of
wind slammed him onto the side of the golden trunk and he quickly found
that he was stuck fast. He tried to pull this way and he tried to pull
that way, but he almost ripped out his fethrings, so he was forced to
stop.
Looking around himself, he saw the dried out husks of long gone
puffballs, who had gotten stuck to the tree in the past times, and he
shivered. These poor brothers would never get the chance to take root
and release their seeds, and now he was one of them.
He wept.
From somewhere below he heard one of the thorn bushes yelling up to
him. This time he listened. "Hey puffer!" The bush said. "Ya shoulda
listened to us bud. Now yer inna bind. How ya gonna get offa there?"
In a quiet voice Fargul said, "I really don't know. This tree was so
lovely, I was sure that it would be friendly…"
"I guess that you were wrong, huh? I'll bet that ya don't even know
what that stuff is that's got ya stuck, do ya?
"Not really, no."
"It's called honey, puffer: that tree is completely covered by it, and
it looks like it'll be the death of ya."
"You might be right, but I really hope not."
Several more thistle bushes took up the mocking tone. "Hey puffer.
What're you gonna do with that honey that them other puffers, stuck
next to you weren't able to do?"
Proudly, Fargul puffed himself up to his most dignified and proudly
proclaimed that he would call upon the great wind to rise up and rescue
him.
After a moment of disbelief, the bushes threw their hard seeds and nuts
at the puffball, and laughed derisively at the benighted Fargul.
Covered in honey as he was, the nuts and hard seeds stuck to him fast.
He cried out to the great wind to save him and cried out again. He
cried out for hours, until he was horse and then he just cried. He hung
there for so long that he no longer knew how long he had been there. He
knew that the sun had passed overhead at least twice, but it might have
been more than that.
Fargul had heard before that the drying out process was unpleasant, but
nothing ever prepared him for the dizziness and disorientation, until
it came upon him. If he ever got free, he would have to quickly take
root, or he would surely die.
As he dried, he began to think that maybe he would die.
Through bleary eyes he looked up and saw a strange creature approach
him. The creature trampled through the bushes, and he felt a bit of
satisfaction. The creature soon stood directly in front of him.
Looking directly up at him the creature gently reached up and pulled
Fargul free of his entrapment. That beast, which seemed enormous when
compared to Fargul smiled sweetly and said. "Hello friend. My name is
Abbie Hodgekiss, and I've been sent to rescue you." Chapter 3
Things Great and Small Abbie stood in a solemn world, talking to her
new friend. Looking around her at the quiet woods, and the many small
pools, which were all around her: the small child spoke again to the
remarkable guinea pig. "Tell me please sir: who is this Aslan that you
have spoken of?" "He was once a friend of your mothers." "I've never
heard her talk about him before." "That little princess is the problem.
She has forgotten her best friend. That sometimes happens with people:
fortunately for her, he hasn't forgotten her. He has given you and I
the job of helping her to remember him." Considering this with the
direct thinking that most children have, Abbie knew that she could
trust her new friend. "Please sir, if you just show me the way home,
I'll tell her what you have said about this Aslan. Do you have a name,
so that I can tell her of you also?" The rodent frowned and said. "That
is my shame. When I was bought at the pet store, my owner never saw fit
to give me a name. If a guinea pig isn't given a name, he isn't a pet
at all. He's just an experimental subject. A pet needs to be loved, and
my owner never loved me enough to give me a name. I would have loved to
have been able to be his devoted pet… if only he would have accepted
it." Abbie felt pity for her small companion. "Why don't I give you a
name/" Brightening up at the idea the guinea pig smiled and said, "If
you could do that for me I would so ever much be in your debt." Sizing
him up for a few minutes Abbie came to a decision. "You look like a
swift thinker to me. If it pleases you, I will give you the name of
Swifty." With tears welling up in his tiny black eyes, Swifty bowed
humbly, and said, "Daughter of Adam, you have done me a great honor and
a great service today. You will always have my love and devotion for
this, which you have done for me today. If it please you I will
accompany you on your quest to assist you however I can." Pushing back
her blonde hair, Abbie was moved by the newly named Swifty's adoration.
Looking around her, she said, "If you show me the way home, I'll tell
my mother what you have said. I'll remind her of this… Aslan." "Dear
child, you would never be able to tell her about Aslan, until you come
to know Aslan yourself. It will be my job to take you to him; but first
we will have to pick up a few friends along the way. Your mother was
helped by Father Christmas, but as there is no snow here for the
runners of his sledge, I shall summon another guide that can help us to
travel between the worlds." With that Swifty squeaked as only a guinea
pig can, and as his volume grew and grew, the whole woods shook. Out of
a hole in the ground, peeked the head of a brilliantly white rabbit,
and Swifty called out to her. "Dear friend, and fellow rodent, come and
guide us, and give us of thy wisdom: we thy future friends beseech
thee." The rabbit bounced out of the hole and hopped over to them. The
curious creature stood nearly four feet tall on her hind legs. She
carried a basket of brightly
colored eggs, and wore a pink ribbon around her neck, tied into a bow
of indescribable beauty. Abbie liked her immediately. Her whiskers
twitched and although she never said a word, Swifty seemed to
understand her completely. Translating for Abbie's benefit, Swifty said
that they were supposed to follow the bunny. In her funny little bunny
way, the rabbit would hop, hop, hop and stop. Then she would turn and
wait for the others to catch up; wiggle her nose and again she would
hop, hop, hop and stop. Swifty the Guinea Pig had a hard time keeping
up, so Abbie picked him up and carried him lovingly in her arms. For
his part, he snuggled into the folds of her sweater.
This went on for the space of a half of an hour: at the end of which,
the egg carrying hare pointed at a shallow, nearly dried up pool. Again
she wiggled her nose.
Swifty looked up at the young girl and said, "She says that this pool
used to be the way to Narnia, but that it is now a lifeless world. It
is there that we will find your mother, but first we must rescue
another new friend."
Pulling two eggs out of her basket, she handed to Abbie first a Golden
Egg. She smiled and wiggled her nose."
"She says that when we arrive in the land that was once Narnia, we are
to open the Golden Egg." Said Swifty.
Abbie took the egg and tucked it tenderly into her coat pocket. Then
the rabbit held out another egg, that shined like a diamond. With a
solemn wiggle she handed it also to Abbie.
"Just as Father Christmas gave a special present to your mother, so too
are you now given a special gift. The rabbit says not to open it now.
She also says that you will know the time when the right moment
arrives." Translated Swifty.
After Abbie had also tucked this new egg gently into a different coat
pocket, the bunny turned and resumed her hop, hop, hop and stop. After
another ten minutes, the travelers stopped at another, richer and
deeper pool. It smelled of lavender and roses and where the Pool that
was once Narnia reeked with decay and stagnation, this new one radiated
a sense of vibrant life.
The rabbit pointed and wriggled her nose. She then hugged Abbie and
Swifty and rapidly disappeared down a nearby rabbit hole.
Abbie asked her friend. "What did she say?" "That there is someone
there in that pool that we need to rescue, and then she said that she
had to get back to her deliveries."
They stood there in that silent wood for a long while, trying to decide
what to do next. Swifty of course urged her to move onward, but Abbie
was scared. It occurred to that she was far away from home, and that
she was most certainly lost: but she also realized that there was
something about that place that was comforting, and the thought of
leaving it frightened her even more than the fear of being lost.
It also occurred to her that the farther she got away from the point
where she entered the wood, the harder the time that she might have in
finding her way home: although it was funny that, since she entered the
wood, home seemed only to be the most distant of memories.
In her arms the Guinea Pig looked up at her and said, "Aren't we going
to go in?"
"Where are we supposed to go? I only see another pool of water: I don't
see anyone."
"If you put back on your green ring and you jump into the pool, we'll
be transported into the world that is on the other side of the pool."
Replied Swifty.
"I won't drown?"
"You won't drown."
"O.K. I hope you're right." Slipping on the green ring and holding
tight to Swifty, she jumped. "Here we go!"
At about the same time, in another world, Queen Susan realized that her
daughter was missing. With the terror that any loving parent would feel
at such a moment, she began a frantic search of the venerable old
house. Chapter 4
A Home For a Puffball
When the travelers stopped swirling, Abbie and Swifty, found themselves
in a sunlit valley meadow of golden waving grasses and a rainbow of
flowers on all sides of them. The woods had been a place of shade and
peace, whereas this prairie was a place of brightness and life abundant.
The wind in the meadow seemed to whisper constantly in joyous musical
chords, while the grasses and flowers swayed back and forth in the wind
as if they were dancing. The whole spectacle was quite hypnotic, and it
took all of Abby's concentration, to stop herself from joining in with
the vast dance.
Glancing at Swifty, she could see him swaying with the heavenly music.
From somewhere behind her a voice said, "Havin' trouble keepin' yer pet
awake, are ye?"
Spinning around, Abbie looked for the source of the new voice. "Who
said that?"
Behind her again, the voice said, "I did, who wants ta know?"
Now Abbie was really confused. She turned yet again and still didn't
see anything. "Where are you? Are you invisible?"
The voice chuckled and said, "I don't think that I'm invisible. I'm up
here. Maybe I'd better land and let ye get a better look at me."
Glancing upward, Abbie saw a grizzled old seagull as he maneuvered his
way in for a landing. Of course Abbie had often seen seagulls, so she
knew one when she saw one, but she had never seen one that stood almost
four feet tall before: neither had she seen one wearing a long scarf
and an old seaman's hat like this one had on.
The bird emptied his beat-up old pipe on a nearby rock, looked Abbie in
the face and said, "I be Cap'n Flapp: who and what may I ask be ye, and
the little beastie in yer arms too, what be he?"
Abbie stared for a minute dumbfounded, but she had been raised better
than that. She shook her head, curtsied and answered the old salt. "I
am Abbie Hodgekiss, and, " nudging Swifty awake she held him up, "this
is my friend Swifty the Guinea Pig. He tells me that I am a daughter of
Adam, but I always thought that I was a girl."
Captain Flapp, bent is head in a bewildered bird fashion and said,
"Sorry never heard of either of those things. Either way, I'm glad ta
meet yer both. We're a long ways off from the sea we are, so we're not
likely to find any other form of animal life till we git there."
Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Swifty, looked meekly at the huge
bird, and softly asked, "You're not going to eat me are you?"
"Why? Do ya want me to?"
"Oh no, no. I was just wondering what you ate… that's all."
"Fish is all I eat friend: ye got any? Sides, I'd never eat anything
that I could talk to. Life at sea teaches ya, ta take yer conversations
as ye can. It can git mighty lonely on a long voyage, and there's
nothing more valuable than a friend ta keep ye company. A long land
trip is much the same, so I'm pleased ta meet up with ya both. So what
are ya doing here, so far away from everthin?"
Still trying to shake off the effects of the wind, Abbie answered him.
"We've been sent on a mission, sir. We were told that we had to come
here. We were told that there was someone that we were supposed to
save. That wouldn't happen to be you, by chance, would it?"
"Sorry lassie, but I'm fine: as long as I don't spend too much time on
the ground here that is." Said the bird.
"Are there dangerous beasties on the ground around here?"
"Heavens no child!" That made Abbie feel better, until the Captain
continued. "All a the beasties around here were killed off by the
plants, long ago!" "Killed by…"
"The plants. That right, they were killed by the plants. Ye see, the
plants in these parts have minds. Most a them are pretty good old
chaps, but some a them ain't too nice. If ye ain't really careful, ye
might wind up poisoned or some such thing. If yer not gonna fly over
these parts, ye better think about getting one a the good plants ta
guide ya to the sea. Once ya git there ye'll be safe enough."
Noticing that Swifty had dozed off again, Abbied asked the seagull
captain, "Can't you be our guide?"
"Well… I can folla ye, but ye'll need a native ta tell ye which plants
might be dangerous, and which ones are friendly. I always fly overhead
so I really can't tell te those things."
For a long time, Abbie stood in silence, trying to decide on what to
do. Finally she decided that she would follow the bird, and try to find
a guide along the way. Maybe that
guide will be able to help them to find the person that they are
supposed to save.
Just then Swifty shook his head and awoke from his trance. With a few
squeaks, he was he was once again speaking. "I have been listening to
the Wind: and the Mighty Wind says that we should travel to the sea."
The gull jerked his head up and said, "The sea ye say? The one place
that ye can't go to is the sea. The Serpent King, has driven away all
of us good folk. It's no place fer the likes of ye to be goin'."
Abbie, who had fought to avoid listening to the wind, wasn't sure that
she wanted to follow any instructions, which said to go to any
dangerous place. At least not to a destination which was given by a
source that she didn't understand. (As a nine year old, she had no
problem accepting a talking Guinea Pig, but she couldn't see or
understand the wind.) "Swifty: how do you know that you can trust the
wind?"
"Ah Abbie, in this world, the Mighty Wind speaks for Aslan. Believe me,
it is a source that we can trust. Aslan rarely comes here, so he sends
his messages through the Mighty Wind." Said Swifty.
"Aye Lass, everyone knows this, although if truth be told, I've never
before known anyone that could understand what the Wind was saying."
Said the Captain.
The Guinea Pig turned to the gull and said. "My friend, anyone is able
to understand the Wind. All that a person has to do is listen, and
believe that the Wind really speaks to them. Anyone who really believes
that can hear the Wind."
"If ye says so matey. Which direction does the Wind say that we should
a be headin'?"
Swifty pointed towards a dirt path which wound its way towards where
the sun goes down, and he said, "That way."
"Ah, little friend, that way leads to the sea, and I've already told ye
that it's too dangerous to go there." Said the Captain.
Swifty reared up majestically on his hind legs and lectured the
doubting seagull. "That my friend is why we need our guide. This
Serpent King has no place in the World of the Winds. Although he may
have many minions, we will yet prevail. This Serpent who claims to be a
king, is a fraud, and he shall be defeated by one who is truly of the
royal blood."
Scratching behind his ear with his left leg, Captain Flapp, continued
to doubt. "Then he can't be defeated. There are no kings or queens in
our world. Until this serpent came out of nowhere, we were all equals,
and lived in peace. If we need someone of royal blood to defeat him, we
won't be able to find anyone with that quality."
Swifty stood with his little paws on his hips and said, "We have here
with us," Pointing at Abbie, he continued, "Her Royal Highness,
Princess Abigail of Narnia, daughter of the Warrior Queen Susan, and
niece of the High King Peter. It is she who will lead us, it is she who
will defeat the great foe of this world: then it is she who will work a
great wonder in the land where she is destined to rule!"
Abbie looked at Swifty as if he had just gone insane. "Surely, you
don't mean me? My mother is no queen… How can I be a … Princess?"
"Daughter of Adam, your mother was once a great and powerful queen, and
she ruled righteously in Narnia for many years. Sadly though, she has
forgotten that part of her life: but if Aslan wills it, that which has
been forgotten, may be restored. Now, what is your first command as our
leader?"
She walked back and forth, for what seemed like hours to her thinking,
but it was in reality only about twenty seconds. "Why don't we follow
the directions of the wind?" Pointing in the direction that Swifty had
pointed at earlier, she said, "Let's go this way and find our guide?"
And that is just what they did
They walked through the tall grasses for several hours until they heard
a weak voice crying for help: they hastened their step, while Captain
Flapp did aerial reconnaissance. When they crested a small knoll, they
saw that the poor trapped creature, was a puffy little ball, that was
stuck to a majestic tree that was almost completely covered with honey.
Abbie thought that the whole scene was so silly looking
that she almost laughed.
Swifty, said in his squeaky voice, "There is our guide."
They hurried to the puffball's side and gently lifted him from his
predicament. With a broad smile, Abbie smiled sweetly and said. "Hello
friend. My name is Abbie Hodgekiss, and I've been sent here to rescue
you."
Queen Susan tore the house apart searching for her daughter. After a
couple of hours she noticed the little girl's footprints in the dust,
which were entering into an old storeroom which, as far as she knew,
hadn't been visited for years. Her heart froze when she saw the yellow
and green rings laying on the floor. Two of them were missing. Chapter
5
The Angry Plants
As soon as the intrepid puffball had been rescued, it occurred to Abbie
that she had no idea of what she was supposed to do next. The bunny in
the wood had told that her that she had to rescue someone, and now she
had. She also knew that eventually, she was supposed to meet up with
someone called Aslan, and that she would also help her mother to
remember him. But she also know that the Great Wind had told Swifty,
that they were supposed to travel to the great sea.
Turning to the little puffball, she said, "We're on our way to the
great sea, which our friend, Cap'n Flapp here says is dangerous, but
what about you, my fluffy little friend? Are you going to join us, or
are you going off on some other mission of your own?"
After a few moments of consideration, Fargul said, "Nothing that can't
wait. I have an itch to see distant and new things and your quest seems
like it was made for my needs. If you'll have me, I'd be glad to travel
with you."
"Then it be settled mateys. Let me get aloft and I'll lead the way.
When we get close I'll alight and we can make sure that the Serpent
King is nowhere about." And with those words, Cap'n Flapp took wing and
began his circling course toward the ocean.
Queen Susan sat pensively holding the rings in a nearby soap dish. Once
she had wiped the dust off of it she scooped the rings into the dish,
which provided a handy carrying vessel. Susan had suddenly remembered
their old friend Diggory, telling her about the rings and the power
that they had to whisk you away to another world. She knew that if she
simply touched them, she could be taken away. These kind of things
didn't fit into the orderly life that she had made for herself.
It had been a long time since she had done anything impulsive, so she
sat on a box and deliberated for quite some time as to what course of
action she should take. Eventually her concern for her daughter,
outweighed her fear of the unknown, and she became determined to take a
pair of the rings, and to go after her.
Even though she decided to go, she had over the years, become too
sensible to simply leave without taking some precautions. Therefore,
she put two of the rings in the soap dish, and left a note for her
husband explaining what had happened and where she went. If she
couldn't find Abbie, maybe Henry would fair better, than she.
With that done she again sat down again on the dusty box, nervously
picked up two of the rings with her handkerchief, and put one in her
coat pocket. With sweat running down her forehead, she stared at the
other ring, which might take her anywhere. She almost put it on four
times, but pulled it back, just before it went on her finger each time.
She pulled out a picture of Abbie, looked at it for a minute, and put
the ring on her finger.
Nothing happened.
Fargul floated along on the wind, while Swifty rode in Abbie's pocket.
Cap'n Flapp yelled down from his position high up above, "Thar be the
ocean ahead. We should be there tomorrow about noon."
Abbie chatted with Fargul and Swifty as she walked. Generally she found
it to be a pleasant time, until she heard two gruff voices from
somewhere ahead of them. They seemed to be arguing about something, but
she couldn't quite make out who they were or exactly what they were
talking about. Either way they sounded angry.
Suddenly the voices stopped.
From a nearby bramble, a gravelly voice shouted. "Halt! Who goes
there?"
"The princess answered. "My name is Abbie Hodgekiss, and these are my
friends… Where are you? I can't see you anywhere…" Swifty jumped out of
Abbie's arms and quickly hid behind her.
The bushes that were partially blocking their way rustled harshly in
the wind. "How can you not see us? We're right here in front of you!"
The stern sounding voice said. The hedge of angry bushes then pulled
their roots all of the way out of the ground and shambled their way to
the middle of the path, where they again dug their roots back into the
packed down surface of the path. "There! Do you see us better now?!"
"Well I certainly do now." Answered Abbie politely. "How do you do?"
"If people like you would quit bothering us, we'd be doing a lot better
I think! Now, what are you doing here?"
Fargul whispered to Abbie. "Let me deal with these folks. I know how to
deal with their people: I've had to do so before." With a nod from
Abbie, and puffing himself to his fullest degree, he continued. "I am
called Fargul, and these are my companions. We have traveled here from
the valley of the great grasses as we have been led by the Great Wind.
It is our intention to travel to the sea, where we will be given
greater wisdom, so that our journey may then continue."
The leftmost bush shook with a laugh and said, "We are the Brothers
Thorn, and I am the eldest. My name is Sharp, and these are my
brothers, Rasp, Hasp and Tare; and we care nothing for your quest, if
that be what it be! Our task is to turn you back, and make sure that
you can never get to the sea. You may be moved by your Great Wind: but
we follow the orders of the Serpent King. He pays us with golden
fertilizer and bestows upon us great titles: therefore you shall not
pass!"
Fargul answered them. "We cannot turn back, for where ever the Wind
blows us, we long ago decided, there we have go. What will it take for
you to let us pass?"
The now laughing bushes openly mocked the puffball. "Little puffer, you
couldn't pay us enough to ignore an order of the Serpent King. If he
got mad at us, he would send a herd of goats to come and eat us up.
What can a puny puffer and a little girl creature do to us? You can't
even get close to us." With that the Brothers Thorn, pelted them with a
barrage of thorns and barbed seeds. Fargul blocked Abbie from the worst
of the attack by floating between she and them: but that meant that he
took the pain of the hurled objects into himself. This was a brave and
unique Puffball! With his actions, he showed that he was the best of
his kind.
Seeing that they had hurt him, the Brothers Thorn stepped up their
attack hurtling wave upon wave of sharp objects at the delicate looking
Puffball. Just then, out of nowhere, a gust of wind blew aside the
thorns and spiked seeds. The Brothers hurled another shower of thorns,
and again, a gust of wind deflected them, even though not a hair on
Abbie's head, and not a frond of Fargul's puffs where touched by the
wind in any degree. Furgul shouted to the Brothers. "As you can see,
the Great Wind will see us safely through this! Give way, and let us
pass."
With that, Sharp, of the Brothers Thorn shouted simply, "Never!!" and
they increased their attack. The wind gusts howled louder and louder,
the winds increasing to gale forces and speeds knocking the dangerous
missiles harmlessly away. The Brothers blew back and fourth, shaking
wildly as the Wind tried to uproot them and blow them away: but their
roots held firmly to the ground.
The Wind continued the defense, but as the Brothers saw that their
roots held firm, they began taunting the Wind itself. Abbie and Fargul
began to fear that the Thorn Brothers could never be moved, when
suddenly, one by one, the bushes screamed and were blown away. In the
heart of the rapidly dieing storm, they both saw that indeed the roots
had held. They still held: but there in the middle, still gnawing at
what was left of the roots was Swifty the Guinea Pig.
Looking up the furry Swifty smiled and said, "Sometimes it's the little
and forgotten things that can save the day: and there isn't many things
smaller and easier forgotten than I am"
Abbie picked up her beaming friend, and with a quick hug and a lot of
laughing they continued on their way: always following the Great Wind
towards the sea. Chapter 6
Susan's Pursuit
Queen Susan was despondent. She had tried everything to get the rings
to work, but she had failed at every attempt. It seemed to her that she
had been sitting, still wearing her ring and backpacks full of
supplies, on the cold wooden floor weeping for years, when in fact it
had been but a few hours. She felt more helpless than she had been at
any other point in her life.
Her son Andrew had been at school all day and knew nothing of his
mother's activities that day. Somehow Susan had assumed that she could
make her daring rescue and return at the same moment that she had left,
for that was the way of the land that she dimly recalled as Narnia. She
never completely realized that time travels differently in different
worlds, so she really had no way of knowing how much time it was that
she was going to really need.
Therefore she was still sitting on the floor when Andrew returned home
from school. When the sandy haired boy got home, his mom wasn't in any
of the places that he normally would have found her after school: and
it's terribly important to an eight year old that mom is there when
they get home. After an hour of playing games by himself, he went in
search of his missing mother: eventually finding her on the floor of
one of his and Abbie's special rooms. She was crying.
There are few things more terrifying to a young child than the sight of
their mother crying. A kid sees their mom as their source of strength
and well being. Therefore he ran to her and put his arms around her to
try to comfort, not only her, but himself as well.
Susan put her arms around her son. She had forgotten that she still
wore the magic ring, and as it touched her son, they were both whisked
away from the face of the Earth that they knew so well. After a brief
period of what felt like falling, they found themselves both in the
most silent and reverent forest that ever could exist.
A great sleepiness washed over them both, so they laid down to take,
what they thought, was a brief nap.
Cap'n Flapp had traveled ahead of his friends so that he could scout
out the lands ahead: therefore he had no idea of what had transpired
during the traveler's confrontation with the Brothers Thorn. He had
problems of his own.
The intrepid gull had circled his way towards the sea. He had pulled
the goggles over his eyes, down from his hat, so that the wind stayed
out of his eyes while he searched the ground below him.
He had traveled this course many times before, so he didn't really
expect trouble, even though he had warned Abbie that the journey might
be more dangerous than he had expected it to be. He felt the peace that
can only be felt when gliding high above the world. From that vantage
point, he felt as safe as he had been when he was still in the egg.
Trouble seemed distant, and he was sure that nothing from down below
could ever hurt him so high up in the air. He was content.
Unfortunately, what comes up must eventually come down, and things on
the ground could definitely hurt him when that was where he was.
Soaring overhead, Cap'n Flapp neared the seaside. Seeing a school of
fish just off shore, and feeling the grumbling of hunger within him, he
dived into the water. He felt the rush of excitement, that all of his
people felt when hunting the creatures who lived under the waves.
Finally he grabbed a large tasty mandro fish, flew up out the water and
lit on a crag of wet rocks at the waters edge.
He feasted on the mandro fish and became just a little too distracted,
for after a long contented glide, a happy hunt and a full stomach, he
sat down on the rocks to sun himself. He closed his eyed for a long
nap.
After about a half hours time, he was awaked from his slumber by a
voice that he knew too well. His blood ran cold.
The slithery voice of the Serpent King hissed, "Hello Flapp. Ssssss.
What are you doing here hmmm? Ssss."
He found himself wrapped in the coils of the Serpent King, and was
surrounded by the kings reptilian henchmen. "Maybe taking a nap wasn't
a good idea." He thought to himself.
Young Andrew was likewise awaked from his slumber by an unexpected
presence. He felt a tickling around his nose, and when he opened his
eyes, he was starring into the eyes of a large white rabbit: its
twitching whiskers moving over his face as the bunny chewed on the soft
grasses.
The bunny sat up on its haunches and stared directly into Andrew's
eyes. He could almost swear that the creature had an amused look on its
face. Reaching over with his left hand, he shook his mother gently.
"Mom? … Mom! … Wake up Mom!"
Susan, feeling the child's nudging, dragged herself out of the soundest
sleep that she had ever before experienced. She desperately wanted to
go back to sleep, but she knew that she had to see what the child
wanted. It was strange, but she couldn't quite remember who the lad
was: there was something about the place that seemed to dull the
senses. She knew that he was important to her, but that was about all
that she could remember.
Looking at the boy it slowly came back to her. It was her son… Andy
maybe? "Why was there a rabbit there?" She thought sleepily.
The Rabbit nodded its hear in one direction, beckoning them to follow:
it's paws pulling the boy behind it.
Susan got groggily to her feet and followed. Her leaden legs, plodding
through a hazy existence, one step after another. After what seemed an
eternity, they stood in front of the same pool that Abbie and Swifty
had stood just days before. The rabbit beckoned them to jump but they
just stood there. It beckoned them again with no better results. With a
frown, it went behind them, and used its big feet, like a kangaroo, to
kick them into the pool, where they again felt the dropping sensation.
The Serpent King squeezed Cap'n Flapp tighter in its coils. "I asssked
nicely before … ssss … Why have you come here?"
Although the Gull had held out for quite a while, he finally decided
that he would be no help to Abbie if he was dead, so he decided to tell
the King, at least some of the truth. "I be scoutin' ahead fer a party
that be on a quest. I never intended to land in yer territory, and I
beg yer pardon, great King. If ye'll be so kind as to let me go I'll be
botherin' ye no longer."
This didn't satisfy the King at all, but it piqued its curiosity.
"Scouting ahead you ssssay? A party on a quessst you sssay? An
invasssion party perhapsss?"
"Oh no, no, no great sir. Just a little girl creature, and her pet
looking for someone that I've never heard of before. They say that the
wind tol' them to go to the sea."
Now the serpent was intrigued. An invasion force was certainly a
concern to him, but a child was nothing to worry about, though she
might make a tasty dinner for him. The snake chuckled a hissing laugh.
"All right Flapp … sss … I'll let you free. … sss … Did the child
happen to sssay who ssshe wasss looking for?" The coils loosened, and
Flapp was almost able to get free. Almost, but not quite.
"Aye, she did. It was someone she called Aslan." The snake looked
shocked. Turning an evil smile to the seagull, he said, "Assslan you
sssay? Sssso … my ancient enemy ssstill livesss! Thisss isss an
opportunity that we can't passs up. We will ssset up a trap for the
lion. We will finally take the day!" Chapter 7
At The Sea
The trail to the sea was rugged, but Abbie managed it in record time.
After the Brothers Thorn, they received no challenges to impede their
progress. The rocky path wound around the cliffs and outcrops on its
way down to the sea. She had to struggle on occasion to keep her
balance, for the loose stones slid and gave way beneath her fairly
often.
She had smelled the sea long before she had glimpsed it. Abbie's home
wasn't so far away from the sea that she couldn't recognize the smell
in a minute. The scent of the sea was familiar
and homey to her. It reminded her of the times that her parents used to
take her and Andrew to the beach, in the days before her formal
education began. She had often thought that those were the happiest
days of her life.
Next she heard the roar of the waves crashing upon the rocky coast,
it's power and majesty evident in the thunderous pounding which
continued to grow in strength until she turned the final bend and
finally saw the wide ocean spread before her. It could almost be an
ocean from back home, except that it sported bright orange crests on
its waves, most unlike the usual whitecaps of home.
Stopping short, she also saw her friend, Cap'n Flapp, tied up and held
captive among an army of snakes, lizards and other assorted reptiles.
The largest snake of them all wore a purple robe and a golden crown.
Swaying its head in a beckoning fashion, it bade them to approach.
Abbie realized almost immediately that this must be the Serpent King
that she had been warned about.
Susan and Andrew regained their memories as soon as they touched down
in the unfamiliar world. They had arrived at exactly the same spot that
Abbie did when she had arrived there. Andrew's head stood just slightly
above the height of the sea of grasses: which seemed to be dancing
rhythmically to the motions of the wind. The sweet smell of flowers all
about them nearly overwhelmed their senses with pleasant aromas. Andrew
looked up at his mother and said, "I like this place Mom. Is it
supposed to be a new place for Abbie and I to play?"
Being reminded of Abbie, Susan choked back a tear and said, "No dear.
Abbie's lost and we're here to try to find her." "How are we going to
do that? I don't see her anywhere around here."
"Neither do I dear…" She cast her eyes about vast prairies in the wild
hope of seeing her daughter, but she could not be found that way.
Thinking it out logically, for that she believed was always the best
way to do it, she envisioned herself going door to door and questioning
every passerby to see if they had seen a little girl pass that way.
Then she started thinking about the horrible things that evil strangers
might do to a little girl who was all alone in a strange place and she
began to panic. Maybe she should have called the police instead of
running off all emotional and all. She began to despair of the idea of
ever finding her when Andrew spoke up.
Andrew had been doing something at her feet and she had been too lost
in her thoughts to pay as much attention to him as she should of: she
daren't let anything happen to him too. "Hey mom, look at these
footprints in the mud. You think they might be Abbie's?"
Bending down to take a look, she saw the imprint of the familiar
shoemaker's mark. There wasn't much chance of anyone else in this world
having such footwear: they must be Abbie's. She had come that way after
all. There was only one set of prints, since Abbie had been carrying
Swifty, so Susan assumed that her daughter was traveling all alone.
Giving her son a weak smile, she said to him, "Yes. Those are her
footprints. Why don't we follow them until we find your sister."
So they picked up their things and they set off in search of the
missing princess.
The Serpent King must have been at least forty feet long: His scaly
head reared up at least eight feet above the rest of its coiled body: a
sly grin extending broadly across its fanged mouth. A wicked looking
tongue darted in and out of its mouth while its head swayed
hypnotically back and forth.
Swifty whispered to Abbie, so that the snake wouldn't know that he was
intelligent. "Watch out for this one Abbie. Don't let yourself be
swayed into sleepiness by its motions, or we'll end up in the beast's
belly faster than you can scratch behind my ear. Listen to the Wind
Abbie. Trust the Wind."
Seeing Cap'n Flapp gagged, tied up and held by the King's henchmen
would have been enough to warn her of this: still, a little reminder
never hurt anyone.
"Hsss… Hello child. Why have you come … ssss … to my domain? … sss"
Standing up as impressively as she could, Abbie answered its question
with one of her own. "Why do you have my friend over there all tied
up?"
"Oh, isss thisss a friend of yoursss. You ssshould choossse your
friendsss a little better. Thisss bird isss a known enemy of my kingdom
and hasss been arresssted. Ssshould I arressst you too… hmmm?"
"Don't answer the serpent Abbie." She heard the Wind as plain as day,
although it was obvious that the reptiles didn't.
After a few minutes, the snake spoke again. "Well, maybe not yet…
should I eat you perhapsss?…"
Silence.
The snake, though becoming frustrated, wasn't through just yet. "No?
Then the ssseagull perhapsss, hmmm?…"
"Not yet Abbie. For now, Junius Flapp is safe."
The wind built in speed and ferocity and pelted the snake with flying
dirt and pebbles, forcing it to close its eyes willingly. A sharply
barbed tumbleweed hit the serpent that was holding Junius Flapp.
Pulling its paws up in front of its face for protection, it was forced
to release the intrepid gull: who, seeing his opportunity immediately
took wing.
The Serpent King roared in anger. "Who are you to challenge me tiny
child!? … Hsssss ….. What gives you the courage to face me down when
you are ssso obviously helplessss!?"
"Go ahead Abbie. Tell him who you really are."
With a courage that she never knew that she possessed, Abbie stood
straight and faced the beast. Proudly she said, "I am Abbigail
Hodgkiss: the last Princess of Narnia!"
At the name of Narnia, the snake froze. It knew of Narnia, and it knew
of its great ruler, its eternal enemy. It shouted back, to be heard
over the shrieking Wind. "I have long ago go been to thisss Narnia, and
was cassst out from there. I have heard that it isss no more, ssso what
have I to fear from the likesss of thee?!"
"It is not me that you need to fear. It is the one who I seek that you
should fear, ugly snake!"
Not wanting to hear the answer, but knowing that it must know, it asked
the girl one last question. "Who isss thisss that you ssseek?"
The Wind rose beyond cyclone speeds, as if to hurl her answer across
the very seas. She spoke with a voice of thunder, "His name is Aslan.
The one that I am seeking is called ASLAN !!"
Her words were indeed blown to distances beyond all imagining, beyond
the furthest ocean, beyond the distant sky: and she was answered, by
the roar of a Lion: majestic and more powerful than anyone could have
imagined.
The snake trembled.
Many miles from the sea, Queen Susan and Prince Andrew heard the Lion's
reply. They looked up from the trail that they had been traveling and
searched the sky, but he could not be seen.
Susan vaguely recalled hearing that roar before, and her blood raced
with excitement. Chapter 8
Meeting Aslan
Over the waves could be seen the daily sunset, but beyond that a
greater light was rising, much brighter and warmer than the fading
light of the day's spent sun. Accompanying it was the nearing roar of
the Great Lion. Hearing the sound, the Serpent King became panicky. It
knew that its time would be short and it desperately needed some kind
of an edge. Swinging its tarnishly crowned head back toward Abbie, its
gaze became the glare of intense scrutiny. It noticed for the first
time, the nose of the guinea pig sticking out from underneath her
sweater.
Thinking to itself, it silently said, "A nice snack perhaps, but no
real help there." The puffball wafting on the wind seemed even less
important to the snake than even the rodent. It was wrong in both
cases, because the Great Wind had spoken to both of them, and their
guidance had been invaluable to Abbie so far.
Then it eyed the bulge of the diamond egg, which had been stuffed into
her backpack. It didn't really know what the bag contained, but it was
getting desperate.
"Hssss… That'sss all right my dear. … sss I am not an unreasssonable
ruler. I'll tell you what. … sss … I will ssspare the livesss of your
friendsss if you jussst give me the contentsss of your bag. Sssimply
asss a token of friendssship, you underssstand…"
Abbie had almost forgotten about the wondrous gift which the bunny had
given her. Pulling it out of her backpack she studied it: for the first
time really. It was made of the clearest diamond imaginable. It had
been decorated with intricate designs, etched in gold and silver leaf,
which had been therein inlaid with the most perfect of rubies,
sapphires and emeralds.
As lovely as the exterior was, it was as dirt compared to the intricate
weave of the power of pure life, which could be see growing within it.
At that moment, Abbie realized for the first time that the egg was
alive. This was no gaudy Easter Egg. This was something much much more.
The Serpent King too immediately saw its worth, and coveted it. If it
could harness this great power, perhaps it could hobble even the great
Lion. If not it must keep Aslan from ever obtaining it. "Hsss … well my
dear, what do you sssay?" The egg sang to Abbie's soul and the Great
Wind sang an intricate harmony. The resulting melody told her that she
must call out to the Lion for help and salvation. She was given a great
trust and she must not let her heart fail. She must remain valiant and
always choose the right.
Looking the serpent in the eye, she said, "I'm sorry sir, but this egg
is not mine to give." Then she turned to the sea and shouted in the
stillness within and without her. "Aslan, great Lion of which I have
heard: please come to me and save me and my friends. I am but a poor
and helpless child and I find that I am barely able to resist this
great enemy before me. I can do nothing of myself. Please come to me
great king."
The snake hissed in an attempt to act before it was too late. With the
whispered word "Fool…", the snake struck at the helpless child: its
fangs flashing wide: its venom dripping,. The snake leaped at the girl
as if to swallow her whole.
From the sea the Great Lion Aslan rocketed, intercepting the strike
with a great roar, and in a second the serpent was in his mouth.
Shaking his golden maned head, his fangs bit deeply through the scaled
creatures neck. Shaking it violently, the Lion spat out the mangled
reptile, like a discarded watermelon seed. The once great Serpent King
slithered away, looking for a hole to cower in.
Turning to the young girl, Aslan became the picture of love, and Abbie
suddenly felt safer than at any time in her life. Without being told,
she knew that this was the Aslan that she had traveled so far to meet.
Being raised a proper girl, she curtsied and bowed her head low. While
she was doing so, she saw that Swifty had already been doing so, but
Fargul and Cap'n Flagg floated in the air nervously: not really sure of
what to do. She turned to her friends and said, "This is Aslan, the
King. It is he who will lead us to our destiny. Come and show reverence
to him."
The two friends lit on the ground just behind her and made obeisance.
The deep rumble that was the voice of Aslan said, "Rise my friends and
rejoice, for your time is indeed nigh: and just as you arise, it is
time for Narnia to once again rise, for a time: and this time the vile
Serpent King Tash will be contained here for the span of a thousand
years. During that time you shall rebuild Narnia, and all there shall
live without Tash's evil influences. The New Narnia shall be a place of
chances and second chances and a home for all who need to heal their
spirits." "You must travel there and begin your tasks. I will wait here
for yet a short while, but you must travel on to the land which has
passed away. There you will find friends who will tell you what it is
that you must do. When you have completed your tasks, I shall come and
stay with you forever. Go now, for I shall see you soon enough."
With another curtsy, Abbie asked the majestic lion, "How sir shall we
get there?" "Dear one, just put on both of your rings at once and walk
into the ocean, and there you will find adventures beyond your
imaginings." And Aslan turned his attention to the path that they had
traveled on their trek to the sea as if listening for something.
With Swifty safely tucked away in in her sweater, and Cap'n Flapp and
Fargul resting securely on her shoulders, Abbie put on her rings and
entered the ocean. Chapter 9
Building the New Narnia
Susan and Andrew had finally reached the golden honey tree, and the
young boy couldn't have been happier. It isn't every day after all that
a young boy finds an unlimited supply of his favorite treat. Growing up
in a sensible house as he and Abbie had done, they were generally
denied sweet treats, so honey was one of the few ways that Andrew had
been able to satisfy his sweet tooth: for after all, it is well known
that all young boys have a sweet tooth.
He was busy indulging himself when he heard voices behind him. They
were weak small voices, that he never would have heard if they hadn't
stopped to rest and refresh themselves, for rustling through the
undergrowth can be a noisy affair. He perked up his ears and listened
more intently.
"Mom, " he said, "Do you hear those voices?"
Susan had been leaning up against a rock dozing, when she was suddenly
nudged awake by her young son. "What dear?"
"Shhh. Listen."
Now fully awake, Queen Susan started to pay attention. All about her
was the babble of tiny voices, but she saw nothing but the flowers. As
she stood, she saw that the flowers moved to follow her movements. "How
very odd" she thought.
Speaking up she asked, "Who's there? Is there somebody here?"
The quiet babble became silence
Susan continued. "Please, we mean you no harm. Is there someone there?"
Finally a bright yellow rose stretched up to her direction and
hesitantly said, "Who are you? Here we have always been here, and we
know each other well. It is you that is the stranger here. Who are
you?"
Andrew jumped up with excitement, "It's a talking flower! Mom it's a
talking flower! Isn't that wonderful?"
Waving her son back to silence, Susan studied the flower as if there
was something that she really should remember. Narrowing her eyes she
answered. "I am Susan Hodgekiss, and this is my son Andrew. We're
looking for my daughter Abbie, who has gone missing."
"See, I told you that these creatures had something to do with the ones
that were here the other day!" Interjected a pink flower with its quiet
shout.
Suddenly excited at the possibility of finding her daughter, Susan
said, "Abbie? You've seen my Abbie?"
The pink flower was all too happy to speak to her. "We saw a creature
that looked a lot like you. We have never before seen creatures like
you, so it's a good guess that the only other one that we've ever seen
might be related to you. What kind of a creature are you anyway?"
Andrew has happy to answer the friendly flower. We are people… humans
that is, and we come from a place called Earth. My sister's all alone
and probably really scared, so we've come to find her. How can you talk
without a mouth?"
"We talk directly to each others minds. We don't need mouths. You're
sister is just fine: but you are mistaken about one thing. She is not
alone. Your sister is traveling with a little mammal, a seagull and a
puffball."
Susan froze. "Did they kidnap her? Did they tie her up?"
The yellow flower reassured them, "They were her friends. She rescued
the puffball, and they all vowed to help her in her quest. They
promised to help her to find someone named Aslan who would be able to
help her."
Susan sucked in her breath. "Aslan…" she whispered.
Abbie and her friends found themselves on a rocky frozen plain. They
were surrounded by total blackness, and for the first time since
Abbie's adventure began she felt true despair.
Pulling her sweater tighter around her she shivered in the icy cold.
She could feel the warmth of Swifty and Cap'n Flapp as they huddled
close to her to share their bodies heat, while Fargul tickled her ear.
She shouted into the infinite darkness, "Aslan… Aslan, we need you. We
need your help."
As soon as the words left her mouth she saw a rectangular light appear:
it's brightness shown above that of the sun and they immediately felt a
warmness wash over them. It was slightly to her right and about thirty
yards away. Standing
in the doorway were three personages of incredible glory, who stepped
through the door and walked purposefully toward them.
The one in the lead raised up his right had in a sign of greeting and
said, "Little princess, we have long awaited your coming. I am your
uncle, the High King Peter, and these with me, are your Uncle, King
Edmund and your Aunt, Queen Lucy. We have been sent here by Aslan to
help you complete your task."
Queen Lucy opened her arms and said, "Little niece, come to me and let
me hug you. When your task is finished I hope to introduce you to your
grandparents. Now come."
Abbie had always felt that there was something missing in her family,
and seeing these three she instinctively knew that they were what was
missing. She ran into the arms of her aunt and felt the real love of
family for the first time in her life. She wept the first of the many
tears of joy that she would now feel from then on.
Peter said, "You have called out to Aslan to save you and your prayers
have been answered, and you have been saved. It is now time to bring
about the New Narnia. Tell me dear princess, what does New Narnia need
most?"
"Light… and heat." She replied. Peter snapped his fingers, and the sky
brightened with an unfocused, diffused light: the land, and all things
in it warmed considerably.
"And now?" Peter asked.
"Water and food great King."
Once spoken, the waters that had been locked up in the soil burst
forth, in a matter of minutes, the rivers, lakes and seas had returned
to the once wasted land.
King Edmund stepped forward and spoke next, "Beloved niece, let me
speak now to your friends." Turning to Fargul he said, "Noble friend,
and faithful companion of my dear niece: you have always known that you
had a great mission. If you now know what your fate is, now is the time
for you to fulfill your destiny."
Fargul turned to his friends. His face glowed with fulfillment and
incomparable joy. "Farwell my friends. I go to now a greatness beyond
my wildest imaginings. You shall always have my gratitude and my love."
With that the courageous puffball rose high into the sky and with a
blinding flash, he released his seeds, which scattered across the
entire face of the world, immediately taking root. Along with his seeds
traveled the large variety of seeds that had become attached to him,
while he had been stuck on the honey tree, and even the seeds that had
been hurled at him by the Brothers Thorn. Within ten minutes, the world
was once again green.
With his seeds scattered, if he were still in his old world, Fargul
would now be dying, but Aslan was not done with him. The face of Fargul
was raised into the high heaven, and became the face of the new sun.
Edmund explained that there could no one who understood the importance
of the sun to a world than one who had once relied on the sun for
sustenance. He shouted down from the sky above, "I'll be watching you
all from above my friends. You will always have my love."
Edmund next turned to Cap'n Flapp. Chapter 10
A Task Completed
The flowers had pointed out the path that Abbie had previously taken,
so, after bidding the flowers a warm farewell, the once Queen and her
son Andrew traveled the same route as had her daughter only days
before: a route that led them ever towards the sea.
Those were good days with warm skies and a gentle breeze. The path they
walked was neither rocky nor unpleasant. They actually had a pleasant
enough stroll: that is until they reached that place that where Abbie
had been accosted by the Brothers Thorn. Several times along the way,
she could swear that she had heard a voice drifting to them on the
wind. She tried to see if there were more talking flowers about her,
but there were none to be found. Andrew tried to insist that it was the
wind itself that she had heard, but she just shushed him and moved on.
Days before, Swifty the guinea pig had chewed away the stems of the
Brothers Thorn, which made it possible for them to be blown away by a
great wind. This brought salvation to Abbie: unfortunately they
hadn't bothered to pull up the roots, so that, by the time Susan and
Andrew arrived, the Brothers Thorn had grown back from the surviving
roots. They were weeds after all, and their experience made them
ornerier than ever.
They didn't even bother to challenge her this time. They simply began
their barrage of seeds and thorns and then they simply ordered her to
turn around and go away.
Unfortunately for the Brothers, this confrontation had two differences
from their fight with Abbie. Firstly, they were not yet the weeds that
they once were. They had not yet fully regrown, and therefore were
still rather stunted in their size.
Secondly, Susan was not Abbie. While the little girl had been just
that, a little girl: Susan still had the instincts of the warrior queen
that she once was. She pulled a machete out of her bag, and hewed them
down in two shakes of a billy-goats tail. Then she took out a lighter
and set fire to them: reducing them, and their roots to ashes. They
would not be menacing anyone ever again.
"Come on." She said to Andrew, not looking back. "Let's get to the
sea."
King Edmund looked the aging seagull in the eye, since it is well known
that birds often have their eyes so placed that they must see from the
side, Edmund stood by his side and a little before him. "Dear friend, "
he said, "you have a task too. Being a seagull, you have intimate
knowledge of the types of birds and fishes that inhabited your old
world. It will be your task to fly from one end of this place to
another, and as you speak the name of a type of bird or fish, by the
power of Aslan, it shall come into existence here also. This is to be a
place of beauty, so be especially careful to select only those fish and
fowls of good dispositions and faithful hearts."
"Since this is a job that requires so much flying that no normal bird
would have the strength to accomplish it, you will be given youth and
stamina. Kneel now before me Cap'n Flapp."
King Edmund took out his sword and placed the point of it, first on the
gull's right shoulder, then on his left, and said solemnly. "I now dub
thee, Sir Flapp: first knight in the realm of the New Narnia, defender
of the weak and Lord of all things finned and feathered. You are no
longer Captain Flapp. Arise Lord Flapp, and fly to your task."
The once cap'n knelt as a seagull, but rose a young and powerful
phoenix. His flaming wings and gentle countenance looked once down on
Abbie and said with a smile, "I'll be seeing you kid." He rocketed into
the air, did a few loops and set about his task, and almost
immediately, the songs of birds blossomed around all around them.
After a few minutes, Queen Lucy reached out to Abbie and Swifty crawled
out of her sweater and into the queenly embrace. She hugged the little
creature and felt the love of his spirit.
Finally she said to the guinea pig. "Your destiny precedes even the
foundations of the first Narnia. You will eventually do for the land
creatures, both mammalian and reptilian what Sir Flapp is now doing for
the fowls and fishes, but I perceive that you desire no honors such as
he received. Tell me dear one, what is your hearts desire?"
"Great Queen, I think that I have already received my reward." Answered
Swifty. "All that any pet desires is the love of a caring owner, and
when all is said and done, I am, and will always be a pet. My first
owner was uncaring, but I have been loved and do truly love my new
owner, Princess Abbie. Let me continue to be her pet and I'll be more
than rewarded."
Lucy smiled and said, "Well spoken dear one, all that you have asked
shall be. Now, you have watched the many creatures of the many worlds
from your vantage point in the woods. Picture now, in your mind, all of
the loving and noble ones, and they shall dwell here with you all."
Almost immediately they were surrounded by the pleasant sounds of the
wild. In the distance could be see a herd of Golden horned unicorns,
and beyond that lay a herd of silver wooled sheep. At their feet played
dancing mice and industrious ants.
With a smile Queen Lucy said, "You have chosen well little friend.
Soon the land will be ready for Aslan to return and stay with you for
the thousand years to come. But there is one thing missing." Holding
Swifty gently up to her face she asked, "Do you know what that is?"
Nodding an affirmative, Swifty answered. "There is no wind here great
Queen. No place should exist without the whispering wind."
Lucy's smile grew to a beam. "Well spoke dear one."
As soon as it was said, they all felt the gentle breeze as it entered
the New Narnia for the first time. Chapter 11
A Queen No More
The time of Susan's great trial was upon her and she didn't even know
it. Great and important events are like that sometimes: they sneak up
on you when you least expect it.
After a rather uneventful journey from the place where she had defeated
the Brothers Thorn, she came down that winding path which led to the
sea. The wind whistled in her ears, and she tried her best to ignore
it.
Andrew heard the same wind, and became increasingly alarmed. "Mom? We
don't know what we'll find down there: shouldn't we approach it more
cautiously?" He said.
"You might be right Andy." She said. He knew that he had been right
about her being upset, because she only called him Andy when she was
really worried. "Why don't you wait here. I'll call up to you if the
coast is clear."
With that Andrew sat down on a rock and apparently waited patiently.
Susan moved forward cautiously. She couldn't believe that her mind had
been wandering earlier. She couldn't believe that Andrew seemed wiser
than she had been at that moment: but she vowed that she would from
that time forward be more careful.
As she rounded that last bend, that same strangely orange wide sea
opened to her view that Abbie had seen earlier. Somehow she had
expected to find her daughter waiting patiently on the seashore, making
sand castles, as she used to when she was younger. No one was there
that she could see.
She had followed Abbie's tracks, so she knew that she had passed this
way, but there was no one to see. The little girl's tracks became mixed
in with numerous other tracks: none of them were human. The tracks
seemed to be mostly reptilian, along with at least those of one very
large cat.
From the rocks where the Serpent King had hidden itself, it watched
Queen Susan, as she studied the beach. It recognized her as the once
queen of long lost Narnia: Susan by name. Of all of the Kings and
Queens of Narnia, only she had listened to its enticings. Before the
King that slithered on its belly stood the Fallen Queen. This was an
opportunity that the serpent felt that it simply must exploit. The
snake slithered out of its hiding place, to speak to her.
"Hsss. … Hello again Sssusssan, it hasss been a very long time sssince
I've ssssen you. Do you remember your old friend?" He may have looked
like a snake to everyone else, but Susan saw it as her old friend Candy
King. It had been Candy who had taught Susan how to apply her make up
properly, and it was she who taught her how to attract men. Candy also
taught her how to grow up and put away those foolish games that she had
played as a child. It was Candy who convinced her that there never was
any Aslan: and that there never was any Narnia. With time Candy became
her closest friend and dearest confidant. Susan ran to Candy and threw
her arms around her. The vision clouding her mind's eye, blinded her to
the approaching army of reptiles. It was the serpent's plan to capture
the once queen and use her to draw the little princess away from Aslan,
and from Aslan's protection. If it could do that, perhaps the serpent
might be able to prevent the rebuilding of that great kingdom of
Narnia.
The wind shrieked around her but her senses had been numbed. The
serpent coiled around her and she welcomed its embrace.
Young Prince Andrew got bored with waiting for his mother, but she told
him to wait, and he was a good boy and always did what he was told. He
was daydreaming, so he didn't notice the wind whispering to him at
first, but it howled louder
and got his attention. It whistled down the pathway to the beach, with
an urgency that he couldn't ignore. He could almost swear that it spoke
to him.
"Hurry lad! Your mother needs you now like she has never needed anyone
before! Hurry to her lad!"
He leaped off of his rock and ran toward his mom. As he rounded that
fateful bend he saw her taken prisoner by a huge snake. She looked as
if she had been drugged. Her eyes were out of focus and she hung
limply. "MOM!!!" he shouted.
That shout attracted the attention of the snake who quickly ordered its
underlings to attack the helpless child.
Susan's mind was in a fog, where she imagined that she was winning
beauty contests and receiving the adoration of stardom. It was very
pleasurable, but there was no joy in it because it was not really
happening. Through the haze she saw a young boy running towards her.
'Could that be Andrew?' she thought. 'What's he doing here she
wondered?'
His voice cut sharply through the fog. He was calling out in fear to
her. She must shake this off somehow, she thought, but the muddling of
her mind got stronger. She must help her son.
She was now completely immobile. She saw Andy surrounded by creatures
who were about to kill him, but she could do nothing to help him. She
was swirling down in a whirlpool of despair, with everything fading
into blackness. Was there no one to save her son?
Then from a deeply buried corner of her soul she remembered that there
was indeed one who had always been there for her when she needed him.
Frantically she tried to drag that name out from that most hidden
places within her almost lost memories.
The darkness around her was almost complete when a name broke free of
her restrained lips. "ASLAN!!!" she shouted to the skies. "Aslan please
save my son. I had deserted you and confess my unfaithfulness. Do what
you will with me, just please old friend… save my son." What started as
shout, ended in a whisper.
As the words left her mouth, the great Lion was upon the reptiles,
claws flashing through scales that offered the cold-blooded beasts no
protection. They scattered to the four corners of the lands, in hope of
never having to see the likes of Aslan ever again.
In a gentle voice Aslan said to Andrew. "Stay behind me Son of Eve. We
must now free your mother."
Princess Abbigail and her faithful pet stood on the top of the grassy
hill, with her aunt and uncles: waiting there and getting to know each
other. She told them about her father and her brother and about the
life that they lived back home. For their part, they told her the
stories about her mother, a Queen in Narnia: and of her great
adventures.
They introduced her to her grandparents and to a cousin called Eustace,
and to many other great and interesting people. They also explained to
her that Aslan would soon come and take up his place there. When that
happens they explained, they must all return to the place whence they
came. If Aslan allows, they said, they will come and visit her
occasionally, but they could not promise.
It was one of the most pleasurable afternoons that she had ever
experienced in her life.
The Wind danced around them and Swifty said simply. "Aslan comes."
They heard a roar, and as they turned their heads, they saw Aslan
approaching through the tall grasses. When Abbie saw Andrew and her
mother alongside him, she ran to them as fast as she could and leaped
into her mothers arms. Just when she had thought that an afternoon
couldn't get any better it did. Her joy, as was Susan's was full.
They cried and swapped stories of their adventures. Eventually, Susan
looked about and she saw them. There at the top of the hill stood her
brothers and sister, and right behind them stood her mother and father.
All she knew had died, and she feared that she could never again lay
her eyes on them: but there they were.
Several days later, those who had arrived at through the doorway had to
return, and it was time for the last living Queen of Narnia to face her
fate.
Queen Susan stood before Aslan for judgment.
The embodiment of Narnia spoke softly to her. "Beloved Susan, you had
for a while, lost your way, but you have been found, so this is a day
of rejoicing. Being lost from me was punishment enough. Still there is
a price to be paid for your unfaithfulness. Therefore, as the Old
Narnia has passed away, and this is a New Narnia, you shall be a Queen
in Narnia, no more: although Abbie and Andrew shall be Prince and
Princess of Narnia for all time."
"In the morning, you three shall return to your home, where a difficult
task awaits you. This New Narnia still lacks people. You will tell your
husband of the New Narnia. He will believe you. The two of you will go
to the hopeless in your world and give them hope. When you find the
best and most noble, for whom life has never given them a chance at
happiness, you will put a ring on their finger: and if they are truly
worthy, they shall find a home here. When the rings are gone from your
world, your penance shall be done."
"Although you will no longer be permitted to return here, while you yet
live: the young Prince and Princess will return many times. Please give
them of your strength and encouragement. Be of good cheer. When your
time comes, you shall once again be queen and sit with the other Kings
and Queens of Narnia."
"Now let us spend one more night together beloved daughter, and then we
shall all move forward into the future." And that is what they did.

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